Effects Of Wetting Agent On Soil Water Content In Turf Management

Soil wetting agent is a kind of surfactant, designed for solving theproblem of hydrophobic characteristics of the topsoil (1-2cm), whichimproves the penetration and distribution of water in rootzone by reducingthe surface tension of water.The study mainly focused on the effects of the different wetting agents,Dispatch, Primer, Revolution and Aqueduct, on soil water content and drypatches of fairways and greens. The results showed that, the wetting agents,Dispatch and Primer can improve the soil water content on the fairways. Theeffect of wetting agents was due to the severity of the drought. While thewetting agents had significant effects on soil water content under the dryweather condition, no significant effect was observed under sufficient watersupply. The effect of Primer on soil water content was weaker than that ofDispatch according to the research.Revolution can control the development of the dry patches on bothnumber and area of them, but cannot eliminate the dry patches, which may bedue to the slope and soil water content of the green. Aqueduct had a better effect on reducing the dry patches than Revolution, while the high applicationrate of2.5ml/m2had a better result than the low application rate of1.25ml/m2. The soil water content of the core of different wetting treatments andthe controls were similar.